Partage des connaissances

Nom canonique: Arden, Tom
Nom légal: Rain, David Christopher
Autres noms: Rain, David
Date de naissance: 1966
Date de décès: 2015-12-15
Sexe: male
Nationalité: UK
Lieu de naissance: Mount Gambier, South Australia, Australia
Lieu du décès: London, England, UK

Membres

Critiques

Volcano Street par David Rain

Another Aussie novel from the library. Two sisters are sent to stay with their aunt in a small town called Crater Lakes when their mother has a nervous breakdown (seems to be a theme!) 'Skip' is a twelve year old tomboy who hooks up with the lad next door to face up to a gang of school bullies, while her sixteen year old sister Marlo, with feminist ambitions, just wants to finish school. They get to know the locals and uncover a few long-buried secrets, including the scandal of Roger Dansie.

Getting into the story took me a while, I must admit, even though 'Skip' reminded me - in spirit if not in sympathy - of Scout in To Kill A Mockingbird. I'm not sure why the author chose to make the main character a girl when the book obviously has an autobiographical slant, because 'Skip' is a pre-pubescent boy in all but (birth) name. Unless he thought that having a girl beat up the bully would be more entertaining (and he would be right). I got used to 'Skip' eventually, but the pointless scene where she starts her period at school and runs home covered in blood was a worthy successor to the scene in Stephen King's Carrie for male authors not understanding menstruation, and threw me back out of the moment.

The 'story in a story' of local golden boy turned pariah, Roger Dansie, was more interesting, but the 'commune' in the haunted house was a bit far-fetched, and the heavy-handed themes of the Ibsen play put on by the local am dram players reminded me of Mansfield Park.

A random but readable book, with a quirky if slightly cliched cast of characters.… (plus d'informations)

Signalé

AdonisGuilfoyle | 1 autre critique | Aug 15, 2019 |

Volcano Street par David Rain

I really enjoyed this, David Rain captures the spirit of twelve year old 'Skip', an adventurous tomboy, and sixteen year old Marlo, both desperately unhappy to find themselves living with their estranged aunt and uncle in Crater Lake. The cast is lively and interesting, from obese Auntie Noreen to Skip's on-and-off-again best friend, Honza, to the enigmatic Ghost of Dansie House. Rain vividly evokes some of the best and worst elements of Australian life in the 1970's and the claustrophobic oppression of a small country town.… (plus d'informations)

Signalé

shelleyraec | 1 autre critique | Feb 2, 2015 |

The Heat of the Sun par David Rain

Inspired by Puccini's Madame Butterfly and Luigi Illica's libretto, and other works on which it was based, David Rain has read into the story of Butterfly, expanded it and continued it towards the end of the C20th through the lives of Pinkerton's son Benjamin and Sharpless' son Woodley. Woodley and Ben, known as Trouble, first meet as young boys at Blaze Academy. Bookish Woodley is immediately drawn to the charismatic and extravagant Trouble, although it takes a while, and a turn of events, for the two to establish a relationship, a relationship that will repeatedly wax and wane over the years as the meet, part and meet up again.

Woodley does his best to look after his wayward friend, encouraged, or rather charged with the commission, by Kate Pinkerton, Trouble's step-mother and wife of the now influential Senator Pinkerton. They live it up in the 1920s, meet again in Japan just before the outbreak of WWII, later they find themselves working together on a secret project that will bring an end to hostilities between Japan and the US. But the fall-out could mean they will not see each other again.

This is a story that seems much bigger than its 270 plus pages, it covers so much with so many twists and turns. I found once or twice, if the story was ever in the possible danger of loosing my attention a new turn of events would rekindle my interest, and the more so on each occasion to the extent that the latter part I read in one sitting. It is much helped by the quality of the writing which alone makes the reading a pleasure.

Woodley, who narrates the account portrays himself as a rather lack-lustre character sometimes failing in his convictions, ponderous and limited by a childhood injury that leaves him crippled; but this only accentuates Trouble's wild, extrovert nature with his lithe, boyish physique. There is a third man in their relationship, Le Vol, a friend of Woodley's from Blaze, a friend who is not so taken with Trouble. Throughout there are rare hints of the real nature of the relationship between Woodley and Trouble, and Woodley and Le Vol, and we must wait until the last pages to find even a hint of a confirmation or otherwise; but then we never really doubted, did we?

This is a compelling story, with a cast of colourful and often powerful men and women; and we can feel very safe throughout in the hands of David Rain and his impeccable prose.… (plus d'informations)

Signalé

presto | 9 autres critiques | Dec 1, 2014 |

The Harlequin's Dance (Orokon) par Tom Arden

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

I got 67 pages (eight chapters) into Tom Arden's The Harlequin's Dance, and even those 67 pages were a struggle. In fact, I started and stopped the book a few times before finally giving up. I'm a little disappointed, because it seems like there's potential here. Characterization is thorough, there are some promising villains, and some subtle humor -- all things that I appreciate.

And Arden is a fine enough writer, though a bit choppy in parts:

Cata wiped her nose on her wrist. A grey squirrel was looking at her quizzically. She closed her eyes. For a moment she saw herself as the squirrel saw her: a little girl hunched on her mother's grave, forlornly tormenting a lifeless doll.
She sprang up.
"Damn!"
It was a word the village-brats would say; they thought it was a bad word.
She said it again.
"Damn!"
How she hated the carrot-haired boy! Again she saw him turning back to face her, his thick lip curling. The other children had turned, too. Two skinny boys and two girls, one small and one tall, they followed the carrot-haired boy in all he did. They sneered when he sneered. They laughed when he laughed...

And there were times when I had to re-read parts because I wasn't sure what was going on -- was this event happening in the present, or was it a flashback?

But, my main problem was that, for all 67 pages, I never felt anything. (Except once I was hungry, a few times I was sleepy, and the ant bite on the middle toe of my left foot was itching like crazy.) I didn't like any of the characters; in fact, I disliked most of them. Perhaps, given some more time, I might have come to care whether or not their world sank into the abyss but, at some point, you gotta cut your losses and move on.

Read this review in context at Fantasy Literature's Tom Arden page … (plus d'informations)

Signalé

Kat_Hooper | 2 autres critiques | Apr 6, 2014 |

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